Frederick m



, base containing a substantial proportion of chromium. Thereby all of the foregoing Patented Nov. 17,. 1925.

UNITED STATES,

1,5 1,900 PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK M. BECKET, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO ELECTRO METALLURGI- CAL COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.,

A CORPORATION OF. WEST VIRGINIA..

NI KEL-PLATED ARTICLE.

No Drawing. a v

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK M. BECK- ET, acitizen of the United States of America, residing at 565 Park Avenue, New

' York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Nickel-Plated Articles, of which "the following is a specification. r

As is well known, nickel plating makes it possible to impart-to articles formed from relatively inexpensive and easily workable materials a surface which has the attractive color, ability to take a polish, and resistance to atmospheric corrosion which are characteristic of nickel, the latter being neither cheap enough nor workable enough to commend itself as a material for the entire article. When minimium cost or high strength is desired, the base on which the nickel is plated'is ordinarily a ferrous metal, such as cast-iron or steel.

However nickel plating usually contains imperfections even when freshly applied, and is very likely to be damaged during use of the article hearing it. When the plate .has been deposited on a ferrous metal, the

latter soon rusts at every point where it is exposed to atmospheric influences, and such rusting is accelerated by electrochemical action set up between the nickel and iron. The unsightly rust spots defeat the purpose for which the nickel was applied.

The better class of nickel-plated iron or steel ware has a thin electrodeposited layer of copper intermediate the ferrous metal and the nickel. This, to some extent, avoids the difficulty above mentioned, but still leaves much to be desired, as the copper is entirely different in color from the nickel, is inferior to it in resistance to atmospheric corrosion, and is apt to be removed with the nickel from the ferrous base by trifling impacts or abrasion.

According to the present invention the nickel plating is applied to a ferrous alloy disadvantages are. overcome, as hereinafter pointed out.

The iron-chromium alloys which I employ are characterized by their resistance to corrosion under atmospheric influences. Alloys containing as little as 5% of chromium, the balance principally iron, are sulfi- Application filed March 20, 1924.- Serial No. 700,715.

ciently resistant under many conditions of use, and may serve the purposes of this invention. I prefer however the more highly resistant alloys containing upward of about 10% of chromium. Alloys containing upward of about 20% of chromium are resistant not only to atmospheric corrosion, but to oxidizing conditions at high temperatures as Well. Of these latter alloys some are so readily workable that they may be rolled into sheet, or otherwise worked into finished shapes as disclosed in the patent'to Becket and McQuigg, No. 1,454,464 dated May 8, 1923. The alloys of lower chromium content are readily workable, provided their carbon content is sufficiently low. My invention contemplates the application of nickel plating to allof these corrosion-resistant alloys, without regard to their other physical and chemical characteristics. The presence of other alloying metals, such as nickel, etc. in the iron-chromium allo s acteristics, the labor and expense involved in preparing such a surface is so great as to be prohibitive for many purposes. On the other hand the cleaned, and if desired, partially polished article, sheet or the like may readily be plated with nickel electro-- deposited directly thereon, that is to say without the usualintermediate coating of copper; and such nickel surfaces ma read ily be buffed to provide the high polish and perfect surface characteristic of this metal. Moreover, nickel deposited upon these ferrous alloys containing chromium has proven decidedly more durable than similar deposits upon iron or' steel. Minute defects, abrasions, etc. are initially less apparent because of the similarity in appearance and color of the overlying metal and the alloy base. Moreover on account of the rust-re sisting characteristic'of the base, such de fe'cts do not tend tobecome increasingly more apparent through the development of rust spots or rust-stained areas, as is always the case when nickel is applied to iron or steel. The electrolytic action taking place when a discontinuous nickel coating overlies steel has already been referred to. When nickel is plated upon ferrous alloys containing chromium the potentials are such as to avoid, or at least to mitigate this efiect, whereby the advantage due to the high intrinsic resistance to corrosion of chrome iron is augmented.

Deposition of nickel upon these alloys involves no special difficulties. No intermediate plating'of copper is required, and the practice is essentially the same as that employed in the plating of iron or steel.

As above stated, pin holes and other small imperfections in the nickel plate become unimportant when the underlying metal is a ferrous allo containing chromium; and even larger efects, such as those caused by impacts or abrasions during use of the plated article are scarcely noticeable, or may Te rendered almost imperceptible by local polishing and buffing. This latter is an important advantage possessed by these novel nickel plated articles, and arises from the circumstances that the underlying metal closely approximates the nickel in color; is susceptible to the same high polish, and is similarly resistant to atmospheric influences.

I claim:

1. A nickel-plated article composed of a ferrousalloy containing suflicient chromium to render it substantially non-rusting under atmospheric conditions.

2. A nickel-plated article composed of a ferrous alloy containing more than 5% chromium.

3. A nickel-plated article composed of a rollable ferrous alloy containing sufiicient chromium .to render it substantially nonrusting under atmospheric conditions.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature. 4

FREDERICK M. BECKET. 

